January 29, 2020 PHRF-NB Annual Meeting Minutes
Meeting at Newport Yacht Club, Newport, RI
Called to order at 6:30pm
Attendees: Will Museler, Rating chairman; Roy Guay, treasurer; Bob Horton, Secretary; Don Kern, Board member; Paul Grimes, board member; Todd Johnson, board member; 6 audience members
• Motion to approve the minutes from the previous annual meeting of January 2019 which had been distributed via email were seconded and approved.
• Treasurers Report PHRF-MB experience a small positive increase in the balance sheet. Significant was the number of certificates issued in 2019, 429 compared to 2018 458, a decrease of 29 certificates, however both were higher than the 2017 low of 424 certificates. Treasures report was made available in printed form. The website expenses have been paid in full pending any database changes for 2020. Question from the floor regarding 2020 certificate fee and if there will be a decrease, increase, match to 2019 of changes for multiple certificates for the same boat. The board noted that a decision on certificate fees will be made at the February meeting.
2020 PHRF-NB slate of officers
Don Kern was presented as the incoming Commodore for 2020.
Rating Chairman, Will Museler; Treasurer, Bob Horton; board members remain the same with Mark Nannini serving as a board member in 2020.
No nominations submitted from the floor. A motion was made, seconded to approve the slate of officers as presented, passed.
• NEW BUSINESS
Rating Chairman Will Museler presented the changes for 2020. A significant change is to align the PHRF-NB sail area calculations to equal other rating systems. Part of this change was to make new and used sails that are smaller than max impact the ratings in a positive manner.
Measurements of/for sails will not change. Square footage is not a field that is required or needed on the certificates.
Sailmaker certificates are not required to be submitted as we are still using the honor system.
Bill Kneller had request a copy of the certificate base which was provided by Roy Guay. Bill indicated that full data was missing on certain boats. Asking for mid-girth measurement is new. Bill noted that not all boats provide the same or all measurements. It was suggested to ask for measurements on all new sails. The response was that the rig measurements on the certificate allow for needed calculations. It was noted that jibs are rated by overlap, spinnakers and mains by rig measurements.
Bill Kneller noted that most boats are using Headsails table A when they should have used table B. Only 31 boats used table B and these were mostly J109 & J105’s. He also noted that non-spinnaker ratings are consistently ok. He stated and will provide discrepancies for some spinnaker ratings. PHRF-NB noted there some discrepancies in the database that go back a number of years for various reasons and as they are found they are corrected.
Bill will submit his analysis electronically as well as the paper form presented at the meeting.
Calculations for a symmetrical spinnaker boat going to A-symmetrical or carrying both spinnakers have been updated. Paul Grimes noted large oversized spinnakers will take a bigger penalty going forward. If either of the spinnakers are oversized a penalty will be applied based on the oversized sail. Cruising spinnakers will benefit if they are smaller than max. There are some certificate holders who purchased new spinnakers that are calculated as oversized and will be assessed a penalty. Discussion as to grandfathering new purchases that were prior to changes can be made. This will be discussed at the February
meeting. Also discussed was if PHRF-NB could/should require a sailmaker certificate for all new mains / spinnakers and LP for headsaills.
Members present asked if the web site shopping cart could be set up so that payment is due at the end of registration rather than up front. Roy Guay will have the programmer look at this. Also asked if multiple certificate holders could get a discount. This will also be reviewed at the February meeting as previously stated. The target date for opening the registration window is March 2020.
It was noted for those present that the changes for 2020 had been sent to various sailmakers and J Boats for review as well as some noted highly qualified competitors.
Bill Kneller questioned the rating for the J109 again and stated that with the information that he has documented and presented that he would like to see a positive adjustment to the J109 rating. Bill stated that he was acting as a spokesperson for the Narragansett Bay J109 owners. This was followed by a discussion of the time period it would take for US Sailing – PHRF Hearing Committee to hear a rating appeal. This will be reviewed and discussed at the February meeting.
Meeting Adjourned 7:20 pm
Submitted by Bob Horton